Cincinnati Bengals
Projected Cap Space: $43.2 million
Draft Picks: 6
- 1st (No. 17)
- 2nd (No. 49)
- 3rd (No. 81)
- 4th (No. 118)
- 5th (No. 154)
- 6th (No. 195)
Notable Free Agents:
- WR Tee Higgins
- DT B.J. Hill
- CB Mike Hilton
- OT Trent Brown
- TE Mike Gesicki
- DE Joseph Ossai
- G Cody Ford
- S Vonn Bell
- RB Khalil Herbert
- LB Akeem Davis-Gaither
- CB Marco Wilson
- P Ryan Rehkow
- LS Cal Adomitis (RFA)
Top Three Needs
1 – Defensive Tackle
When conducting an autopsy of the Bengals’ 2024 season, one of the chief culprits in why Cincinnati failed to make the playoffs was a lackluster defense. The Bengals ranked 25th in both scoring defense and total defense last year. From a down-to-down basis, they were okay, ranking 15th in success rate allowed. But Cincinnati allowed far too many explosive plays, struggled in run defense and couldn’t get to the quarterback outside of star DE Trey Hendrickson who led the entire NFL with 17.5 sacks.
The whole defense is due for a face-lift under new DC Al Golden, with plenty of aging players and expiring free agents. But the Bengals should start at defensive tackle. They signed Sheldon Rankins to replace D.J. Reader and that move was a whiff. Rankins struggled before catching an illness in November that knocked him out for the rest of the season. He’s a likely cut candidate and with Hill set for free agency, Cincinnati needs at least one more starter even after double-dipping last year with second-round DT Kris Jenkins Jr. and third-round DT McKinnley Jackson.
2 – Wide Receiver
If the Bengals can find a way to bring back Higgins, that would solve the potential issue here. It’s certainly something QB Joe Burrow has been lobbying hard for, and it’s at least interesting that Higgins changed agents, going from David Mulugheta who Cincinnati has had a hard time negotiating with in recent years to the same agent as fellow WR Ja’Marr Chase who’s also going to be negotiating a huge deal this year.
But at some point, the economics of paying Burrow $55 million a year, Chase over $35 million and Higgins in the neighborhood of $30 million is just hard to get around, particularly for a team like the Bengals that sticks to conventional contract structures. They’ll have to compromise to do it and they are not known for being a flexible franchise.
If Higgins ultimately walks, that creates a huge hole in the receiving corps that no one currently on the roster is equipped to fill. Third-round WR Jermaine Burton had a disastrous rookie season, with more scratches due to team discipline (2) than starts (1). Third-year WR Andrei Iosivas is best suited to be a No. 3 or No. 4 wideout at this point, barring another step in his development. Gesicki was a presence in the games Higgins missed but he’s also a pending free agent. Bottom line, there’s a lot of work to be done in this area for the Bengals.
3 – Guard
Staying on offense, the Bengals could stand to upgrade the interior of their offensive line and keep the unit charged with protecting Burrow in good shape. Starting LG Cordell Volson was benched for the journeyman Ford last year, but Ford is a pending free agent. On the other side, starting G Alex Cappa had some lapses and is a potential cap casualty. Cincinnati could re-sign Ford and give Volson another shot but this is not an area the team should leave thin.
One Big Question
How much can the Bengals evolve?
For the past two years, I’ve been bullish on the Bengals’ chances of competing for a Super Bowl. In my final offseason power rankings in 2023, I put them No. 2. In 2024, I had them No. 4. Both years I thought they were the AFC contender with the best chance of unseating the Chiefs. After all, they beat Kansas City to reach the Super Bowl in 2021 and came close to doing it again in 2022.
Instead, the Bengals have been 9-8 and missed the playoffs for two straight years. In 2023, they had a decent excuse with multiple injuries to Burrow that ultimately knocked him out for half the season. But last year, Burrow would have been a contender for MVP if the Bengals had won a few more games. Wasting a season like that is a bitter pill to swallow in a league where the opportunities to win a Super Bowl are scarce and competitive windows can snap shut almost as soon as they open.
It’s clear things have to change. The Bengals relied too much on aging players on defense who were core pieces in 2021 and 2022. At the same time, they let other core players out the door like S Jessie Bates and Reader who have been quality starters for other teams because of the front office’s insistence on certain philosophies like not paying players at certain positions or past a certain age. From a broader perspective, the Bengals are still run like a family business, with one of the smallest scouting departments and front offices in the league.
The team understands the sense of urgency to change to some degree. Bengals HC Zac Taylor fired DC Lou Anarumo this offseason, who was part of his first staff and a huge piece of Cincinnati’s run in 2021 and 2022. There’s also been a lot of emphasis on starting faster, a common theme under Taylor. He’s 7-14-1 all-time in the month of September, and a 16-10 Week 1 loss to the 4-13 Patriots stands out as a huge missed opportunity that otherwise could have gotten the Bengals in the playoffs this past year.
But the early read on quotes from the front office on Higgins and other topics this offseason suggests there are other areas where the team doesn’t yet grasp just how much it needs to adapt. And I find it interesting how visibly frustrated Burrow got this year, as well as how he’s become more willing to put pressure on the front office and coaching staff for certain things. At the end of the day, this team is going to go as far as Burrow takes them and everything should be catered to give him the best possible chance of success.
If the Bengals can’t do that, well, let’s just say there’s a history in Cincinnati of franchise quarterbacks becoming disillusioned with the way things are run.
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